by William Newton

This Weekend: Music And Liturgy After Vatican II

For those of you in the DC area interested in beautiful music, and particularly in the idea of having beautiful music as part of the liturgy – which, since the 1960’s, has been something of a foreign concept – I invite you to join us atSt. Stephen Martyr in Foggy Bottom this weekend and next, for a two-part lecture on how the post-Conciliar Church should and could be using music in worship. The lectures will be given by our Music Director at St. Stephen’s, Neil Weston, and will be held at about 12:15 pm in the Parish Hall. Perhaps you will also consider joining us for the 11:00 am Mass upstairs beforehand, to hear Neil and our Parish Choir in action, since Catholic or not, you are very welcome.

Neil studied at Oxford, the University of London, and the Royal College of Music, and as a conductor and soloist has performed in many venues in Europe and America, including here at the National Cathedral, the Basilica of the National Shrine, and the Kennedy Center. Among other awards to date, he won the American Guild of Organists’ National Competition in Organ Improvisation, and has played on numerous solo and ensemble recordings. Every week at the 11am Sunday Mass, he and our choir help make the liturgy a truly beautiful, uplifting experience, enhancing rather than distracting from the worship of God by the use of their musical gifts.

At the risk of embarassing an Englishman, since they are not an effusive sort of people, I will say that every week I stay behind after the Recessional Hymn at Mass to hear what Neil is going to play, as people shuffle their way out. As you can hear inthis example of his solo performance, recorded at St. Stephen’s and showing both Neil and the church, there is a joyful dexterity in his style and wonderful acoustics in the building itself. Neil plays and conducts an enormous variety of music, from the familiar to the unknown, the classical to the contempoary, but always with exceptional good taste and a sense of decorum as to what is suitable for the liturgy.

You can also hear a sample of Neil and our choir at St. Stephen’sperforming together in this video, recorded during the Offertory at the 11:00 am Mass on January 10th of this year. I apologize for the quality of the recording which, since it was made on my phone, is not studio-grade. However more to the point of this post, as well as to the lectures which Neil will be giving, this was not music for a major feast day, like Christmas or Easter, but just a normal Sunday Mass. This of course begs the question, if as a rather small parish of only about 500 permanent members St. Stephen’s can make the effort to have a beautiful liturgy like this, every week, why cannot other, larger and welathier parishes do the same?

Hope to see you there this weekend and next, and if you spot me, please drop by and say hello!